


Better Than Cake

by makesomelove



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Food, Inanimate Objects, M/M, Transformation, magical healing love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-17
Updated: 2013-02-17
Packaged: 2017-11-29 15:20:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/688456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makesomelove/pseuds/makesomelove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Do you see it too?" Niall says.</p><p>"Yes," Louis says. He squints at the ice cream. It's a twist cone, chocolate with a stripe of vanilla.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better Than Cake

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [this AU meme](http://rubdown.tumblr.com/post/35846836137/louishamlinson-tinygayhearts). For beautiful rlottery. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NATALIE. Thanks to burjz for looking at this for me like a true shirt artist. PLEASE DON'T SHOW TO THIS ANYONE IN OR RELATED TO 1D. 
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> _sweeter than candy_  
>  better than cake  
> and every time we kiss  
> it feels oh so great 
> 
>  
> 
>   
> \--[Joseph McIntyre](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjLw3-qNhrg)

One night Louis is lying with Zayn in Zayn's bunk after having finished up a good heart-to-heart with him. They can all talk to each other, about anything, but Louis really likes talking to Zayn about the more serious stuff. It's like their brains work in the exact same way, their synapses travel down the same avenues. It's why they get on so well, he supposes, why they can get into the most trouble together.

"All right?" Zayn says.

"Yeah," Louis says.

Zayn grabs Louis' face in both of his hands and starts to lean in. Louis tenses up, feels his shoulders hunch and his spine go stiff, almost involuntarily. It really feels like Zayn is going to kiss him, for real, straight on the mouth. He doesn't know how he'd react, if he'd fall into it or push Zayn away. He's always felt so taken care of, so cherished and loved under Zayn's touch. He doesn't know if he does the same thing for Zayn.

At the last second Zayn moves his mouth over and lays a big wet kiss on Louis' cheek. He rubs his hand gently over Louis' arm, up and down, like it's natural for him, like it's without a thought.

Louis shivers.

"Hm?" Zayn says.

"Tickles," Louis says.

"Does it?" Zayn says. He starts poking Louis in the armpits, in his belly, reaches around and pokes at Louis' ass, which is so ticklish he kicks out mindlessly and screams and ends up falling out of the bunk. Luckily Zayn is afraid of heights and sleeps on a bottom bunk, but Louis still lands hard on his tailbone.

Zayn is leaning out of his bunk curtain smiling at Louis.

"Good night," he says nicely.

"Good night, fucker," Louis says just as nicely.

Louis goes to his own bunk and tosses and turns for hours. When he does sleep, it's light, and all he dreams about is Zayn being sweet to him.

~*~

Louis walks in on Niall staring at an ice cream cone. He decides he'd like to help Niall eat it and tries to sidle up casually so he can shove the ice cream into his face, but Niall twists expertly to avoid Louis' hands and a face full of ice cream.  
"Damn!" Louis says.

"Sorry," Niall says. He hasn't taken his eyes off the ice cream.

"Where'd you get that?" Louis says. It's a soft ice cream cone, and they haven't stopped the bus in miles, and they don't have an ice cream machine on the bus, much to all their disappointment. Ice cream machines in every room is what Louis was expecting when he signed up for this gig, which he regrets every day there isn't an ice cream machine in every room.

"It was just in the freezer," Niall says.

"What, like, pre-made?"

"Yeah," Niall says.

"Give me that," Louis says, snatching the cone out of Niall's hand. "You didn't lick it, did you? It could be poisoned!"

"Poisoned?" Niall says.

"You should go make yourself throw up," Louis says.

"Take a lick yourself if you want to see if it's poisoned or not," Niall says, crossing his arms and waiting. 

"I'm not your food tester," Louis says.

The ice cream cone is starting to melt. Some of it drops onto Louis' hand, and it tickles him, gently. It feels like a caress. He really looks at it for the first time and something about it seems - familiar. Like he knows it.

"Do you see it too?" Niall says.

"Yes," Louis says. He squints at the ice cream. It's a twist cone, chocolate with a stripe of vanilla.

"Thank god," Niall says. "I thought I was crazy."

"If you're crazy, I'm crazy," Louis says.

"You are crazy, though," Niall says.

The ice cream melts a bit more and it gets between the web of Louis' fingers, like it's holding his hand, fingers linked. It doesn't even feel that cold, it just feels nice. Something clicks in his brain and he finally understands.

"Niall, when was the last time you saw Zayn?"

"Been a few hours," Niall says. "Why?"

"I think this is him," Louis says, holding out the ice cream cone for Niall to look at again.

"What? How?"

"Look!" Louis says. The situation feels urgent now that he's figured it out.

"You're making fun of me, aren't you?" Niall says.

"No! I'm dead serious!"

"Fuck off," Niall says, laughing, and he walks away, in a time like this, when one of his best friends is an ice cream cone.

"I'll save you, Zayn," Louis says to - Zayn, the ice cream cone.

Zayn just drips some more onto Louis' hand. Louis realizes he can't just have Zayn out of the freezer all day. What if when he turns back he's a human puddle because Louis let him melt? They can't have that. He puts Zayn back in the freezer, leans him up against the ice cube trays and writes a note to put in front of him.

"POISONED ICE CREAM DO NOT EAT!!!"

"That should do it," Louis says. "Stay there and I'll go sort this out. Don't move."

Zayn just sits there and waits, patiently refreezing himself.

~*~

Louis calls a group meeting to discuss whether anyone has seen Zayn lately or not. Nobody's seen him for hours, not even the driver, not even Paul, for god's sake. Louis feels a mixture of worry and relief. Zayn is missing, but Louis knows just where he is: in the freezer. Best not to say that bit out loud, he thinks, because it makes him sound like a serial murderer.

"Why did nobody say anything before?" Louis says. "What if he's been left at a truck stop gas station? What if he has to turn tricks for money now?"

"He'll make a lot of money," Harry says.

"You're right," Louis says. "He wouldn't want for anything."

"Has anyone called him?" Liam suggests.

Niall dials Zayn's number and the ringing comes out from under the couch cushions. He fishes the phone out and hands it to Louis, who is apparently in charge of this investigation. He already knows the answer, though; he just needs to convince the others.

Louis makes them all gather round the freezer.

"Listen, lads, this is gonna sound crazy, I know," Louis says.

"You?" Liam says.

"Never," Niall says, laughing and elbowing Liam.

"But I believe Zayn is in this room," Louis says.

"Where?" Harry says.

They all look around like Zayn is going to be hiding under the table or behind a curtain or something.

"In here," Louis says, opening the freezer door.

The boys all stare into the freezer.

"Who poisoned the ice cream?" Liam says.

Louis rips the note out of the freezer and crumples it up and throws it somewhere. Then he gently takes hold of Zayn and shows them.

"See?" Louis says. "Here he is."

The boys all stare at Louis.

"Gotta go," Harry says.

"I have to..." Liam says.

"Bye," Niall says.

They all walk away, leaving Louis to figure this one out on his own.

"But... the twist! Zayn's highlight!" He shouts after them. They don't come back. "Thanks for all the help, you fucking wankers!"

~*~

While Louis is waiting for a sign from anywhere that will help him turn Zayn back, he decides to have a little fun, at least. At their next stop he pops into a store and buys a bunch of sprinkles. Googly eyes, chocolate ones, for the hair and eyelashes, of course, and he even finds some that look like gems.

When Louis is done with him, Zayn the ice cream cone looks like a hideously disfigured, lopsided, childish version of his former self. One of his googly eyes is lower than the other, and his hair isn't shaped quite right, but at least he's got a face now. He's even got an earring.

"I'm a shit artist," Louis says. "But so are you."

The ice cream cone melts a little. Zayn's sprinkle eyebrows are pointed downward in an angry glare.

"Only joking," Louis says. "You're better than me, anyway."

Some ice cream drops onto the table. Louis blots it up with a napkin like he's wiping away tears.

"You look good enough to eat," Louis says. "Get it? Because you're ice cream. If only I had a cherry to top you with. You'd like my cherry, wouldn't you, Zayn?"

Normally Louis would be pleased with such a racy joke, but this one makes him blush slightly. Too close to the truth. Then he really thinks about it. What if Zayn is stuck like this forever? They could be together, he supposes, but he's not sure he's ready to commit to sex with an ice cream cone. God, what would their children look like? He doesn't even know how it'd all work. He doesn't even know for sure if that's what Zayn wants.

"If I gave you a sprinkle mouth, could you talk?" Louis asks Zayn, who does not answer.

He shapes Zayn's mouth on as best he can remember. He remembers it pretty well, actually, the shape of it while he talks, the feel of it on his cheek. It's hard to recreate it exactly with sprinkles, but he tries.

"Zayn?" Louis says.

One of the red sprinkles falls off and lands on Louis' hand. Louis doesn't know what it means, exactly, but he takes it as a sign. This ice cream cone is his friend. He wishes Zayn were here for this. He'd think it was very funny, and he could help Louis figure out what to do.

~*~

Louis has been taking Zayn out of the freezer and putting him back in and taking him out and putting him in all day. He's worried Zayn is going to get freezer burn. One time he leaves him out a little too long and he has to wipe Zayn up off the counter. He hopes it's not like, one of Zayn's arms or anything like that. He doesn't know how this works.

"Just eat it," Niall says when he's checking in on them. They've all been kind of hovering in and out of the kitchen, talking to him like he's crazy. He knows he's not.

"I'm not a cannibal," Louis says.

"You're not an ice cream," Niall says. "Go on, give him a lick. He likes that."

"What?" Louis says.

"Whoops," Niall winks. "Wasn't supposed to say anything. Sorry, mate," he says to the ice cream cone.

Louis thinks about this. Zayn likes being licked by Louis. How much, exactly? And in what way does he mean? They're both slobbering all over each other constantly, but they're just - friends. Close friends. Close personal friends with their mouths on each other all the time. And Zayn does like to put his hands on Louis, gently. Louis thinks about all the times Zayn's touched him, as far as he can remember. That's how he's treating this ice cream cone. He cherishes and loves Zayn, too, and he knows it now for sure, that he can treat Zayn as good as Zayn treats him.

"Privacy!" Louis says, shoving Niall out of his chair and onto the floor.

"That's the craic," Niall says, smiling to himself and rubbing his tailbone as he walks away.

Louis has never been more afraid to lick an ice cream cone in his life. His palms are sweaty and his heart hurts with nerves, but he has to be brave. He has to do this not only for Zayn, but for himself. It's time they were both honest, and if licking Zayn while he's turned into an ice cream cone is honest, then he's willing to do it.

He closes his eyes and takes the ice cream cone in hand, puts his mouth on it, and swirls his tongue around the top, giving it a good, hard lick. It tastes like the chocolate and vanilla swirl, but also like something distinctly Zayn. He swallows and wipes Zayn from his mouth with the back of his hand, and when he opens his eyes, nothing has changed, though he's eaten most of Zayn's sprinkle hair.

Louis sets the ice cream cone down on the table. He doesn't know what to do. He's discovered true love, he's kissed his ice cream prince. Now what?

He closes his eyes and wishes with all his might that Zayn will turn back.

"Come on," Louis says. "Please. I'll do anything, just to have him back."

When he opens his eyes, the ice cream cone is gone.

"Zayn?" Louis says, feeling panicked. He looks around the room for the ice cream, checks under the table, but there's nothing.

Suddenly Zayn, in his human form, comes out of the bunks, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"Hey, Louis," Zayn says. "I had the strangest dream."

"Zayn," Louis says. He jumps up and throws himself into Zayn's arms, but Zayn just woke up and was also just an ice cream cone for a day, so he's useless at catching him. They both fall over and Zayn lands on his ass with Louis on top of him.

"All right?" Zayn says.

"Fantastic," Louis says.

Louis grabs Zayn's face in his hands and kisses him right on the mouth. Zayn kisses back, so gentle and sweet. When Louis pulls away to look Zayn in the eye, Zayn's mouth chases after his.

"I love and cherish you," Louis says.

"Me too," Zayn says. He licks his lips. "Have you been eating ice cream?"

"You have no idea," Louis says, and goes in for some more.


End file.
